First, Some Analysis - A couple of friends and I have been commenting back and forth to one another about extroverts/introverts, after my last journal post. We were trying to decide whether (in our experience) there were more extroverts or introverts -- in the world (or in the U.S.) versus in the SCA. As Angelina quoted Thomos, "The plural of anecdote is not data." (I love this quote, by the way!) So I did a quick check on the internet, to see if there might be some data to interpret.

Now, obviously wikipedia is not necessarily always trustworthy data, but sometimes it gives me food for thought. As you scroll down on that wikipedia article about Myers-Briggs, there's a suggested U.S.A. Population Breakdown by the sixteen Myers-Briggs Type Indicators. The numbers note: "By using inferential statistics an estimate of the preferences found in the US population has been gathered." Now, I don't understand inferential statistics, or how one could possibly estimate the Myers-Briggs breakdown of a population, but let's give these numbers a try and see what they might suggest.

If I'm most often scored as an "ESTP" type, or the Extrovert Sensing Thinking Perceiving, these numbers suggest I'm one of 4.3% of the population. The Extroverts make up 49.3% of the population, Sensing = 73.4%, Thinking = 40.4%, and Perceiving = 45.9%. So, in three of four factors, I land just the low side of half the population, in 1 of 4 on the clear majority. As for my individual indicator type (1 of 16), 4.3% happens twice in the 16 types, with half of percentages more populous than mine and half of them less populous than mine [which is almost like being in the median distribution, but not really].

Not that this really means much, but it is interesting to see why I might believe there's more introverts than extroverts, based on which of the 16 Myers-Briggs "quadrants" from which I think I see the world.
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Now, Back to the Adventures - Wednesday night is normally fighter practice, and I'd already mentioned I stayed home since I wasn't feeling well. Fortunately Thursdays do not normally have too many commitments (especially since right now, the band is out of our normal rehearsal schedule, while the guys continue recording the music for our 3rd CD).

Thursday morning was filled with phone calls and emails about possible job leads (encouraging) but not actual job offers or interviews (discouraging). After fielding lots of these back and forth, I finally left the house to get some breakfast (with a large orange juice, for maximum Vitamin C loading), and to get my laundry done post-camping. In the afternoon, I got more computer work done and then headed up to my shire for the evening's monthly business meeting.

I was driving along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH, or Hwy 1), in that picturesque section that you often see in the movies -- winding 2-lane (or 4-lane) highways, cliffs to one side, water to the other side, driving "north" into the setting sun over the water. I often think there is nothing more beautiful than this drive, north of Santa Monica, north of Malibu (or just leaving Malibu), headed into Point Mugu and Ventura County. And oddly enough, one of the work phone call job leads Thursday morning was about a possible contract out at Port Hueneme, one of the two Navy bases in Ventura County. Now, it's not a job offer, it wouldn't start until January 1, and it's not even a contract they've landed yet, but it did make me wonder whether I'd ever take a job that far from where I currently live. I had one little moment, driving into the beauty of that sunset, where I thought "I could do this drive at 4 am every morning." I'm silly.

I had my ritual pre-meeting coffee meet-up with Jeff, where we sat outside the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, sipping our caffeinated beverage of choice--he with his cigarette, I with my latte--and chatted. This month's conversation meandered from the philosophy of societies and the merging and blending with military philosophy, the fate of great nations doomed to fall versus the fate of pretty good nations doomed to merely slip into mediocrity, the silliness of non-authentic historical costuming in some tv shows versus inspirational historical entertainment that "gets it right" on one thing or another, amongst other topics. I love chatting with him.

The meeting went well, I finally finished "the Signy braid" that I've been working on for a friend (yippee!), and we had a nice post-meeting get-together at that same coffee shop afterwards. Rather than my third latte in an evening (I never need 12 shots of espresso, 8 was plenty in an 8-hour span), I just picked up a sandwich next door, and came to shoot the breeze with everyone before driving back home.

I briefly entertained the idea of dropping by to see a friend in LA on the return trip, but decided to just go home and get some sleep so I can fully knock this cold. Now, eight hours of rest later, I'm ready to hit the job hunt again and prepare for my weekend. I'm contemplating possibly going to the newcomers' meeting in my shire tonight, if I'm far enough along by the afternoon to face the traffic again. There's a tournament tomorrow, north of my mom and sister's places, and I'll need to be there bright and early to get the calligraphy done for opening court. And Sunday, my friend Lynn is coming over in the morning to see my looms (and probably adopt the big floor loom and take it home with her). Then my roomie and I are going to see Tom in his halloween play, in Hollywood in the evening. I'm slightly bummed I didn't know about all the birthday party things with family this weekend until I'd already booked all these other get-togethers, but I'll see what I can do to wish them all my very best.

Now, back to the job hunt!

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Lisa, I'm always so glad to see you again, and I'm glad to hear you've back up in the shire